missing data
Records with holes
Missing data refers to values that should exist but don't—blanks in a spreadsheet, unanswered survey questions, sensor readings that failed to record.
In statistics and research, how you handle missing data matters: ignore it, estimate it, or flag it as unknown.
The term usually implies the absence is a problem to solve rather than information that was never expected.
- incompleteLacking necessary parts
- gapsUnfilled spaces between
- nullAbsence indicator in code
- blankWithout marks or content
- fill in the blanksProvide missing details
absent · lost · lost in translation · unknown · black box · empty · void · holes · sparse · corrupted · unavailable · off the radar · censored · redacted · imputed · placeholder · NaN · omitted
- research errorsmeasurement error, sampling error, systematic error, selection bias, confirmation bias
- data errorstypo, data loss, misspelling, duplicate entries, typos
- data qualityaccuracy, completeness, consistency, validity, timeliness
- longitudinal researchfollow-up study, time series, waves, growth curve, trajectories
- ML errorsoverfitting, underfitting, misclassification, type I error, type II error
- research validityvalidity, reliability, replicability, reproducibility, generalizability